Are you enjoying watching the Paris Olympics and cheering on your country’s team? I sure am. 28 years ago, I wasn’t watching the Olympics on television. I was an Olympic volunteer.
During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Henry, our daughter, and I were volunteers at the Olympic Yachting events in Savannah. For two weeks we got up at the crack of dawn to spend our days on the Day Marina, a floating barge system where the boats were launched and the athletes prepared for their events.
Athletes and volunteers rode a shuttle boat from the mainland to the Day Marina each day
1996 Olympics Yachting Day Marina in Wassaw Sound near Savannah, Georgia
Our job was to help with launch and recovery of the boats. It was great meeting athletes, coaches and trainers from around the world and to see the boats up close.
It was exciting to see the athletes returning to the Day Marina after their events.
USA Bronze Medalist Courtney Becker-DeyGold Medalist Nikolaos Kaklamanakis
Being an Olympic volunteer was a once in a lifetime experience. The memories of those days will stay with me forever.
Patti has chosen cityscapes for this challenge. I’m not a city girl. I would much rather be in a small town, out in the country, or exploring nature.
There is one city that is near and dear to my heart and that is Savannah, Georgia. I was born in Savannah (I’m not telling you how many years ago that was) when my father was in the U. S. Air Force stationed at Hunter Air Force Base (now Hunter Army Airfield). We moved away when I was three years old. Many years later my husband’s job brought me back to Savannah. I’ve lived within 20 miles of Savannah for over 40 years.
Savannah is a popular tourist destination with it’s beautiful squares, ancient live oaks dripping with Spanish moss, a picturesque river front, Bonaventure Cemetery, and lots of history. Tourism increased after the release of John Berent’s novel “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”. In Savannah the novel is known as “The Book.” Hollywood discovered Savannah and it has become a popular filming location for movies such as “Forrest Gump”, “Glory”, “The Last Song” and of course the Clint Eastwood directed “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”.
Savannah City HallCathedral of Saint John the Baptist, SavannahOlympic cauldron from 1996 Olympics, Savannah, GeorgiaForsyth Park FountainRiver Street as seen from the Savannah Convention CenterWaving Girl Statue (Florence Martus) beside the Savannah River in Savannah, GeorgiaJohnny Mercer HouseBonaventure Cemetery in the spring
Amy’s challenge is to explore differences between locations in the East and West or North and South using culture, architecture, plants, or landscape. I’m going to take a look at the differences between North Georgia and South Georgia landscapes. The opening image is springtime in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.
North Georgia
North Georgia has mountains, waterfalls, Tallulah Gorge, and the highest point in Georgia.
View from top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in GeorgiaBlack Rock Mountain State ParkL’Eau d’Or Falls in Tallulah GorgeOne of the waterfalls as seen from Inspiration PointSylvan Falls in Mountain City, GAAda-Hi Falls in Black Rock Mountain State Park
South Georgia
South Georgia is flat and has the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, barrier islands, beaches, salt marsh, farmland, pecan groves, and historic Savannah.
Okefenokee LandscapeNanny Goat Beach, Sapelo Island, GeorgiaSunrise at Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GAEarly Morning Salt Marsh
If I had a visitor from another country who wanted to see my home country in a week or a month, where would I take them? This is the challenge Tina has given us.
I live in the United States. Many visitors from other countries are surprised by how huge it is. It would take more than a lifetime to see it all.
Instead, I will take the time we have to see the many beautiful sites in my home state of Georgia. There are mountains, farmland, friendly small towns, the Okefenokee Swamp, historic cities, barrier islands, salt marsh, beaches, lakes, and the city of Atlanta.
I’m not sure we could even cover the entire state in one month but we could give it a good try. We’ll start our tour in coastal Georgia where I live. We would visit at least one of the three inhabited barrier islands that can be reached by road, go on a dolphin tour to look for Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, walk on an uninhabited island that can only be reached by boat, and take a ferry ride to explore Sapelo Island or Cumberland Island National Seashore. We would catch blue crabs from the local waters and steam them for a delicious meal, snack on boiled peanuts, and feast on low country boil with shrimp fresh from the sea.
Dunes and pier on Tybee Island, GeorgiaSunrise at Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GASt. Simons Lighthouse, GAAtlantic Bottlenose Dolphin near Tybee Island, GeorgiaWe often are the only people on one of the uninhabited barrier islandsNanny Goat Beach, Sapelo Island, GeorgiaFresh Georgia Blue Crabs straight from the creek to the pot.Boiled PeanutsLow Country BoilExploring coastal Georgia
We would visit historic Savannah and enjoy a family style lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room.
Mercer House, Savannah, GeorgiaWaving Girl Statue and Olympic Cauldron on River Street on the Savannah RiverHistoric stone steps leading to River StreetForsyth Park Fountain, SavannahMrs Wilkes Dining Room
We could take a ride to Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge to see nesting egrets, herons, and woodstorks in the spring. We could continue farther south for a boat ride through the Okefenoke National Wildlife Refuge.
Nesting Wood StorksCypress Trees in the Okefenokee Swamp, GeorgiaAlligator in the Okefenokee SwampGreat Egret with chicks, Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge
We would take a road trip on back country roads to north Georgia. We would stop to explore Athens, the home of the University of Georgia, go to the top of Brasstown Bald, and look for waterfalls. We would pass by fields of cotton, corn, and pecan orchards along the way.
University of Georgia Arch, AthensView from top of Brasstown Bald, the highest point in GeorgiaOne of the waterfalls of Tallulah Gorge
We would take another road trip to see the western part of the state and stop to explore Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain and President F. D. Roosevelt’s Little White House in Warm Springs. We would drive by peach orchards and watch the sunset at one of the many lakes in Georgia.
Callaway Gardens Azalea TrailFDR’s Little White House in Warm Springs, GAPeach County, GeorgiaGeorgia PeachesSunset over Lake Seminole at Eastbank Campground
There is so much more to see in Georgia. Sadly, I don’t have photos of some them. In Atlanta we could see the World of Coca-Cola, the Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, Stone Mountain, the President Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site. We could visit the Providence Canyon, also called the grand canyon of Georgia in Lumpkin and beautiful Rome in northwest Georgia, and too many more places to name.
I can’t end a post about Georgia without including the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team. Go Dawgs!
Georgia Football Barn Sign, Tennille, GA Dooley Field at Sandford Stadium
Wandering Dawgs 